A massive 12 years later and Franck Ribery still hasn’t gotten over his Ballon d’Or disappointment.
The Frenchman has regularly talked about the ‘injustice’ of his third place finish in 2013, and has done it again after Cristiano Ronaldo seemingly agreed with his point of view.
In a lengthy interview with the world’s media ahead of the Nations League final, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo touched on a number of topics, including Lamine Yamal and the Ballon d’Or.
The five-time winner was asked to give his pick for the award and made a comment that quickly made its way over to France.
“For me, the one who should win the Ballon d’Or should be a player who has won the Champions League,” the Al Nassr striker said.
As quickly as the comments even came out of his mouth, Ribery, who won the Champions League in 2013 but lost the Golden Ball to Ronaldo, quickly responded on social media.
“So you NEED to win the Champions League to win the Ballon d’Or?” he wrote across his platforms with laughing emojis.
Not only did Ribery win the Champions League in 2013, but it came as part of an historic European treble with the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal.
He was Bayern’s top assister with 17 in all competitions, but Thomas Muller was the Bavarian’s most productive player with 34 goal involvements to Ribery’s 28.
Ribery also didn’t score in the Champions League knockout rounds, but still had the might of his club behind him in the Ballon d’Or voting, making the final three with Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Yet when it came down to it, he ended up third with 1,127 votes – less than Ronaldo’s 1,365 and Messi’s 1,205.
Ribery has reflected on that blow multiple times in the past 13 years, most recently discussing it with L’Equipe.
@franckribery7Ribery couldn’t help but point out the irony[/caption]
“It was the perfect year. I couldn’t have done better,” he said.
“This Ballon d’Or will forever remain an injustice. I’m still looking for an explanation, even though some have given me one.
“I was leading the journalists [vote]. If the vote had been the same as today, I would have won.”
Ronaldo’s point also faced some contradictions, as only three of his five Ballons d’Or came in years he won the Champions League.
On top of that, when giving his vote for 2025, he named two players who didn’t win the final with Paris Saint-Germain.
“I can’t single out a player, but there are a lot of candidates,” he said.
“Like Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, or Vitinha.”
Ronaldo also reiterated his criticism of the Ballon d’Or saying: “I don’t believe much in individual awards because I know what goes on behind the scenes. Individual awards have no value.”
The prize will be given out on September 22 in Paris and Ronaldo and Ribery will be pleased to see that Dembele is currently the betting favourite.
It looks to be a two-horse race between himself and Yamal, with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah a distant third.
Like Ribery, Dembele recorded a European treble – France’s first – racking up a massive 33 goals and 13 assists.
